Cord-Cutting, Or How to Stream your Way to Success

Crone

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
9,707
3,210
Most people are amazed at how much "extra" or "more" time they have when they cut the cable. Can add up quick all the useless shit that gets watched, that you would never watch otherwise, but you are channel surfing, and it was on.

If there is a specific news event or something I want to follow I just follow it online. Certainly don't need the local news, or any other news program for that.
 

Palum

what Suineg set it to
23,296
33,212
I did as well. Netflix and Amazon Prime. I normally don't even care about TV, but I will probably pick up an HD antenna (hell, my TV might have one built in for all I know since it's a 2014 design) just for news/sports/whatever junk at some point.

The shitty options on Netflix and Prime are not outdone by the utterly shitty options on normal Cable. Seriously, does anyone make good TV shows anymore? After BSG/SG1(& SGA I guess) went away, I said screw it. Nothing even remotely interests me that doesn't come out of a premium channel that there's no way in hell I'm paying that price to get one show.
 

Crazily

N00b
301
0
I bought a Roku for streaming and the plan was to use that only. Then I remembered I am a football nut and I need NFL Sunday ticket ...Directv has such a monopoly on that shit it's crazy. So I do both...Directv + roku for everything else.
 

Crazily

N00b
301
0
NFL has gamepass, you pay $200 for every single game in HD and streamable to any device and that is cheaper than you would pay for a couple months of cable. I just talked about it a couple posts ago.
That was new this year as far as I can tell, I looked into it but there was a limitation of watching some games live. Some you had to wait until the game was over and then it was available to watch on demand.....that doesn't do it for me. I need Red Zone channel....
 

a_skeleton_03

<Banned>
29,948
29,762
That was new this year as far as I can tell, I looked into it but there was a limitation of watching some games live. Some you had to wait until the game was over and then it was available to watch on demand.....that doesn't do it for me. I need Red Zone channel....
Zero restrictions with NFL Gamepass, you just have to use a VPN to sign up and to watch that isn't US. They even have the Red Zone channel as part of it.
 

Gravel

Mr. Poopybutthole
36,202
114,705
For those who cut the cord (I'm interested in this), I take it you're not able to watch actual live TV? Trying to find ways to save $$.
That's what the HD over the air antenna is for. But my wife and I noticed we'd just have HGTV or Food Network on 90% of the time but we were never actually watching. Now the TV just usually ends up not on if we're not actually watching something.
 

Siliconemelons

Avatar of War Slayer
10,712
14,980
For those who cut the cord (I'm interested in this), I take it you're not able to watch actual live TV? Trying to find ways to save $$.
As mentioned HD antenna will do it for you if you want local live stuff... although when I had brighthouse for internet if I plugged my TV into the coax and did a channel search it would find a bunch of crap - mostly all local channels in SD and HD and a few random telemundo channels. I am now with WOW and did the same thing I get barely anything- so I am looking to buy a decent antenna for the main TV etc.
 

Void

Experiencer
<Gold Donor>
9,409
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I use the Ortek remote control for mine. It works really well, and if I ever decide to use a Harmony again it gels well with it.
Awesome, I went ahead and bought that since it is so cheap. I might see if I can program my existing (cheap) remote to work with it, but if not that remote seems pretty cool too. Thanks for the suggestion, I was getting really tired of using that fucking mobile app (no idea why people think that's a good idea, it sucks donkey dick).
 

Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
24,547
31,827
My favorite channel is broadcast over the air here. ME TV. Old shows from the 60's and 70's. It's about the only real shows I watch outside of the news and sports.

I get 34 channels over the air here even tho I have cable.
 

Void

Experiencer
<Gold Donor>
9,409
11,072
Thanks, I went ahead and signed up. If my HD antenna will get enough local channels, combined with this I should be able to get most of the live sporting events I give a shit about.

Last step is to figure out a simple DVR-type setup for pausing mid-broadcast. Not sure if that is possible for antenna and/or Sling, but if I had that, I think my cord-cutting would be virtually complete.
 

Selix

Lord Nagafen Raider
2,149
4
I went ahead and cut the cord while waiting for Sling to start sending the invites. Is Fox News really the only free online news channel to watch?
 

Xarpolis

Life's a Dream
14,093
15,593
Do any of you know where I could find episodes of various HGTV & Travel Channel shows? I never see torrents up for those, and that's the only TV I would like to have as background noise in most situations.

Any help would be appreciated.

That said, I've been a cord cutter for a little over a year. I could have done it LONG BEFORE though, because I didn't have TV at my house for a few years. I would download the shows I want to watch, rather than pay the contract fee. My antenna rules. I get like 48 channels, but 3 of them are unwatchable (static or audio only), about 5 are Spanish. The rest are good to go. We even get the American version of the Japanese channel that my wife likes. No complaints there.

On top of that, I have Verizon's 50/50 setup. Maybe 75/75... I forget. I have Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Don't really need anything else. Oh, this is the antenna I bought. It's mounted inside of my attic, pointing towards Philadelphia (my local city). I like it because it's not an eye sore sitting on the roof of my house, and I never have to worry about it being negatively affected by the weather.
Amazon.com: RCA ANT751 Durable Compact Outdoor Antenna: Electronics

On top of that, I bought 150 feet of Coax cable to fish from the attic down into my basement, then up through the floor to the TV in my living room.
 

fris

Blackwing Lair Raider
1,995
2,154
I went ahead and cut the cord while waiting for Sling to start sending the invites. Is Fox News really the only free online news channel to watch?
don't even think you can watch that live. forces you to log in w/ a provider
 

Palum

what Suineg set it to
23,296
33,212
For those that interested. Sign up for Sling TV.

Sling TV - Take Back TV
Didn't some other company try to do this recently? Or am I thinking of the dudes who just had it 'taped' and distributed it online where they tried to circumvent payment because the same content was available for free over the airwaves but it got slapped down in court? Or something like that anyway.
 

a_skeleton_03

<Banned>
29,948
29,762
Didn't some other company try to do this recently? Or am I thinking of the dudes who just had it 'taped' and distributed it online where they tried to circumvent payment because the same content was available for free over the airwaves but it got slapped down in court? Or something like that anyway.
You are thinking Aereo and yeah I am not sure what the difference is here that is making Sling legit and them not.
 

BrutulTM

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
<Silver Donator>
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Aereo was not paying the networks anything. They were claiming that since their customers lived in the area where the channels were broadcast for free then they shouldn't have to pay to get something online that they could get for free over the air anyway. I think it's safe to assume that Dish is paying for the channels just like any other cable/satellite provider would.
 

Kedwyn

Silver Squire
3,915
80
Yeah the two companies are night and day different.

I'd be more interested in the service if they had dvr functions for all the channels and on demand. More selection as well.

Good first step though. Ultimately for this to succeed some kind of net neutrality / title 2 is necessary or the internet providers will kill it before it can take off.